She looks over her shoulder with a soft smile. “I’ve been alive for a very long time, child. We all look quite young for our age. We know about the Silver Wolf. I would say that we have been alive for at least three generations of your kind."
Her words make me swallow in shock. None of these women look past their late sixties. But if what she is saying is true, then they’re much older. Almost ancient.
“If you don’t mind my asking,” I watch her put some herbs in a clay cup, “how old are you?”
She makes a humming sound. “I have experienced over three hundred winters. You lose count at some point.”
I stare at her back, my head still pounding. Can witches even live that long?
“Here.” She turns around and hands me the clay cup. "This will help you feel better. Be a good girl and drink it up.”
I don’t know why but the way she’s watching me so intently has me hesitating. I lift the cup to my mouth and pretend to take a sip, but my lips are sealed shut.
When I lower the cup, she looks satisfied.
Just then, a noise makes me glance outside, and she gets to her feet. “I’ll be just a minute.”
As she walks out, I notice something peculiar.
She’s still wearing that basket on her back.
At this time of night? Why would she do that?
What I had once considered a quaint little village, now seems strange and unnerving. I sniff at the contents of the cup and make a face. Underneath the sweet scent, I can smell something strange and off-putting. My instincts are telling me not to drink this. I walk over to the pot in which the woman had been boilingthe water. I pour the tea back into it. Turning around, I’m about to hurry back to where I was sitting when I hear the hushed voices.
Creeping toward the entrance, I peek outside. The woman isn’t there.
However, I can hear her voice from the hut right next door.
Why are these witches awake at this time of night? Why did they send my mate to go hunting at this time?
Something isn’t adding up. Creeping toward the hut, I focus on the voices.
“She's drinking it.”
“Has she been asking questions?” The second voice has me flinching. It belongs to the woman we had met at the edge of the village.
“She’s alert. But we should’ve expected this. After all, she is the Silver Wolf."
I frown.
What the hell is going on?
“Have you secured the male?”
“Who knew we would find someone like him here," comes the third voice. “The first one is on his last legs. This one should last us for quite a long time.”
“It shouldn't be so hard to break him."
The woman I had met in the village speaks up. “I’m still not sure about this. I think we have been too careless. We have to keep them separate."
“It won’t be that hard to break the bond.”
The voices are melding together, and I don’t know who is speaking. All I know is that they've done something to Alex.
My heart is beating painfully fast. I have to rescue Alex. I have to find out what they did to him.
"She has the nose of a wolf. We won't be able to keep her away from him for long."